


A Late Night Conversation

by sugarandspace



Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Father-Son Relationship, Gen, M/M, Nightmares
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-01
Updated: 2020-05-01
Packaged: 2021-03-01 20:49:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 825
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23953345
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sugarandspace/pseuds/sugarandspace
Summary: Rafael has a nightmare but he's hesitant to wake his parents up.
Relationships: Magnus Bane & Rafael Lightwood-Bane, Magnus Bane/Alec Lightwood
Comments: 13
Kudos: 221





	A Late Night Conversation

Magnus woke up to the feeling that someone was watching him. He didn’t open his eyes yet, slowly letting himself wake up a bit more to be able to react accordingly. He could still hear Alec’s soft little snores so he knew that it wasn’t his husband.

When he felt a little more alert, Magnus opened his eyes. The room was dark and he let his glamour fall, his real eyes more reliable in the dark. When he could make sense of his surroundings, he sat up and tried to find the source of the feeling.

He found it quickly when he saw Rafael at the door of their bedroom.

“Rafe?” Magnus asked, his voice thick with sleep. He reached to his bedside table and turned on the little lamp he had there, giving the room a soft warm glow.

The 5-year-old looked cautious as he stood at the door. He was holding a stuffed bunny that Max had given him on the first night he’d spent with them when Max had learned that Rafael didn’t have a stuffed animal of his own. Now, three months later, the toy remained Rafael’s most important possession.

“Come here,” Magnus said quietly, gesturing for the child to walk towards him. Rafael lingered at the door for a while longer, and his steps were hesitant once he started to walk towards the bed. When he came closer Magnus could see that he had been crying.

“I had a bad dream,” the boy whispered when he was next to the bed. Magnus reached his arms out and waited for Rafael’s reaction, and when the boy stepped closer Magnus knew it was okay to pick him up and lift him to the bed with them. He took a quick look at Alec and saw that he was still sleeping. 

“Do you want to talk about it?” Magnus asked Rafael, brushing his hands up and down Rafael’s arms as he sat on Magnus’ lap. 

The boy shook his head.

“Okay,” Magnus said. “Do you want to sleep the rest of the night here?”

Rafael hesitated, playing with the bunny’s soft ears and looking down. Magnus wasn’t sure what was bothering him.

“Rafe?” He encouraged. “Do you want to stay here, or do you want me to take you to your room with Max and tuck you into your own bed again?”

As soon as Rafael heard the second option, his head snapped up and his eyes widened in fear. It was obvious he didn’t want that.

“You want to stay here?” Magnus asked gently, and finally Rafael nodded. He was slowly getting better at telling them what he wanted, but a lot of the time Alec and Magnus still had to be aware that Rafael wasn’t used to having these options, that this didn’t use to be his normal, and sometimes he felt like he was bothering Magnus and Alec. Sometimes he thought that he was asking too much when he was asking simple things that every child should be allowed to have. Magnus didn’t want him to think like that, but undoing years of mistreatment was a slow process.

“Okay,” Magnus said and gave Rafael an encouraging smile. He gestured to the space between him and Alec, and lifted the comforter so that Rafael could get under it. 

Once safely tucked in between Magnus and Alec, with his one of his arms wrapped around the bunny, Rafael looked up at Magnus.

“I’m sorry I woke you up,” he said in a small voice. It broke Magnus’ heart but he tried his best not to show it. 

“You don’t need to be sorry,” he told Rafael. He reached to take Rafael’s other hand that was resting over the covers. “If you have a nightmare and you’re scared I want you to wake me up, okay? Me or Alec. You don’t need to survive on your own anymore, Rafe.”

Magnus realized that Alec’s snores had quieted down, which meant that his husband was probably awake and listening.

“Okay,” Rafael said seriously. “Thank you, Magnus.”

“No need to thank me,” Magnus said kindly and squeezed Rafael’s hand. “Now go to sleep, it’s still night-time.”

Rafael nodded his head and closed his eyes, and in the light of the bedside lamp, Magnus could see him drifting to sleep quickly. Magnus let out a relieved sigh and hoped that the bad dreams wouldn’t bother their son anymore that night. 

He felt a hand cover the one that was still holding Rafael’s and he looked at Alec whose eyes were now open. He smiled at Magnus and squeezed his hand, and Magnus returned the smile.

The whole parenting thing had turned out to be a long road with different kinds of twists and turns but Alec reminded him every day that he wasn’t doing it on his own. And they might have their struggles that took time to overcome, but for their sons, Magnus could be patient.

**Author's Note:**

> You can find me from [tumblr](https://sugarandspace.tumblr.com) and [twitter](https://twitter.com/sugarandspace_)!


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